In a variety of subterranean environments, reservoirs hold desirable production fluids, such as petroleum. Wellbores often are drilled into the subterranean environments to facilitate production of the desired fluid. However, wellbores also can be drilled for a variety of other applications related to the fluid production. Such applications include, for example, facilitation of fluid production, fluid injection, sensor placement or other production related functions. The drilling can be oriented in, for example, vertical or deviated, e.g. lateral, directions with the aid of an appropriate drilling tool.
When drilling, cuttings are produced by the action of the drilling tool excavating the borehole. Those cuttings have a larger volume than the original rock mass and therefore need to be removed for excavation of the wellbore. In the conventional drilling of vertical wellbores with drilling equipment deployed on tubing, the cuttings can be removed from the wellbore by circulating drilling mud to transport the cuttings along the wellbore. However, conventional cuttings removal techniques do not work well with, for example, wireline deployed cutting tools, even if a fluid conduit is deployed with the wireline. With wireline deployed systems, the power supply available is limited and there is only a single fluid filled wellbore region behind the drilling tool, thus rendering difficult the circulation of drilling fluid to remove cuttings.